SunPower, which does a lot of its manufacturing at plants like this one in Richmond, is selling two large solar plants to Warren Buffett's MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co.

SunPower, which does a lot of its manufacturing at plants like this one in Richmond, is selling two large solar plants to Warren Buffett's MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co.

Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

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Employment growth in California

Employment growth in California

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CA green jobs grew at slower pace in 2010

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Green jobs in California kept growing in 2010 but at a slower pace than before, according to an annual survey of the state's emerging clean-tech industry.

The Green Innovation Index, from public policy group Next 10 and the Collaborative Economics consulting firm, counted 176,000 jobs in the state's green economy as of January 2011, up 1.2 percent from the start of 2010. About 30 percent of those jobs were in the Bay Area.

The annual survey's methodology, which counts jobs at specific companies rather than using broad estimates, is among the most rigorous used in green-job surveys. That rigor, however, has a downside. The job results are always two years behind.

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Nonetheless, for the first time in the survey's five-year history, green jobs grew at a more sluggish pace than the state's economy as a whole. California's total statewide employment rose 2.2 percent in 2010. While businesses in clean energy generation added jobs at a rapid clip, expanding by 5 percent, green building jobs shrank, suffering along with the rest of California's construction industry.

Thinking long term

Despite a lackluster year, the report's authors encouraged taking a long-term view of what they call California's "core green economy," defined as a collection of businesses that help the world transition away from fossil fuels and use natural resources more efficiently. Between 2001 and 2011, jobs in the state's green economy grew 17 percent, while the state's overall employment rose just 4 percent.

"With core green economy jobs, there've been modest increases," said F. Noel Perry, venture capitalist and founder of Next 10. "More businesses are growing, more are being created. We don't have a hockey-stick graph here, but we do have consistent growth."

The Green Innovation Index doesn't just track employment. It also follows venture capital investment in the field, the number of clean-tech patents issued and other measures of the green economy's health.

Together, those disparate bits of data show an industry in transition.

Venture capital financing for green California startups plunged 39 percent in 2012 to hit $2.6 billion, while total venture capital investments in the state dropped by a relatively modest 17 percent. But even as venture capitalists pulled back from clean tech, other types of investors stepped up.

Corporations such as Google now account for 35 percent of investments in the field, compared with 27 percent five years ago. They are helping fund technology deployment, not just early stage research. For example, Warren Buffett's MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. in January agreed to spend $2.5 billion to buy two large solar power plants being developed by San Jose's SunPower Corp.

"We started with a small industry," said Doug Henton, chief executive officer of Collaborative Economics. "Venture capitalists came in and tried a bunch of different technologies. Some worked and some didn't. But what's exciting to us is that now major corporations are stepping in. It's entering a new phase."

Californians also continue to patent clean technologies at a rapid pace. Green patent registrations in the state rose 26 percent in 2010 to hit 913, more than twice the number of patents registered in any other state. Solar technologies accounted for 273 of California's patents, while batteries and energy storage accounted for 230.

Big discrepancy

Counting green jobs is a notoriously tricky and political endeavor, with different surveys using different definitions and yielding different results.

A 2010 report from California's Employment Development Department, for example, found more than 263,000 people in the state spent at least half of their time at work producing green products or offering green services.

Last year, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics issued a report estimating there were 338,400 jobs in California offering green goods or services, accounting for 2.3 percent of employment within the state. The Brookings Institution in 2011 found 318,156 such jobs in California.

Perry said he expects the industry to continue growing in California. The state's policies to cut greenhouse gas emissions, increase the use of renewable power and encourage sales of electric cars have turned California into the country's main market for clean-tech products and services.